Climbing The Power Ladder

Congress.org’s “pre-season” power rankings are out, and both of the state’s U.S. senators have moved up.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, widely hailed as the architect of the Democratic Party’s successful effort to take back the Senate last year, has surged from 16th to 4th.

Schumer’s power score, which considers a lawmaker’s position, indirect influence, legislative activity and the hard-to-defineÂ “sizzle/fizzle” factor, has actually dropped from a high of 49.31 last year to 42.40.

He’s got “sizzle” and holds a leadershipÂ post (vice chair of the Democratic Confernce, not to mention chair of the DSCC, although that’s not technically an in-house leadership post).Â Other than that, heÂ has “average” tenure and committee position, but hasn’t advanced any legislation in 2007 (it’s still awfully early).

The state’s junior senator, Hillary Clinton, has moved way up, too – from 39th to 12th on the power scale. Her power score has gone down from 37.81 last year to 29.84, the reason for that, in part, is that she’s “running for higher office, reducing or diffusing power to help current constituents.”

Not surprisingly, U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-Harlem, made a big leap – from 28th to 6th – and boosted his power score from 36.69 to 39.06, largely due to his very influential position as Ways & Means chairman.

The higest-ranked NY freshman is U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri (24th CD), as a result of his committee assignments (Tansportation and Infrastructure, subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings & Emergency Management; Subcommittee on Highways, Transit & Pipelines and Subcommittee on Water Resources & Environment).